-Sakamoto was like an advisor on the project, as with previous releases.

-Goro Abe (SDP) was like the director, but relied on Ms. Mori from IS for lots of things during dev. She was director at IS of the project.

-Abe was asked to come up with a game idea to come pre-installed with the Wii U (like Face Raiders is with 3DS), and thought about what he could do. As he came up with ideas, he got IS involved.

-Ms. Mori was first brought onto the project in January 2011, when she first learned about the Wii U.

-It wasn't originally planned to be a Wario series game. They wanted them to produce something to show off at E3 2011. This was 'Shield Pose'.

-As it was going to come pre-installed with Wii U, rather than with the Wario series where they can do as they please, they needed to make something that would appeal and be playable to many people.

-Ms. Mori and the team felt bored as it was a more serious style than she was used to at first. They had to exclude their usual brand of humor and style. Sakamoto wondered if they were suited to this sort of game.

-Sakamoto was telling Abe that his ideas were great, while wondering if his team could really do them justice.

-The first time Sakamoto played Pirate/Shield Pose he said it should be more manic.

-Ms. Mori felt grateful for the permission to be a little more free.

-Moved from included-game to retail game in the Summer of 2011, once they'd finished 'Pirate' and felt there was too much content for it to be just included with the hardware.

-They were worried about doing HD Wario (making it realistic) but got advice from Komori at SPD who told them they should do it in the style they were comfortable with.

-They arrived at the scenario (a collection of games made by Wario and Co.) at the last minute before their deadline in December 2011.

-Iwata jokes that from the outside it was obvious that these three were always going to make a Wario game.

-Mori was sad that some of the scenario that they had made had to be dropped to make it a Wario game, but Abe points out they were able to re-use some of the ideas.

-There are 240 items you can get from the 'gatcha' machine.

-They originally planned on 100, but made nearly 300. They had to cut some in consideration of the menu.

-However, the 240 includes cards with play tips (about 69) and character introductions, but there are still over 100 micro-games with the gatcha items.

-Only using the game pad, even for multiplay, is an idea that comes from the time when it was an built-in game, because they couldn't guarantee everyone would have Wiimotes.

-The team avoided using the word 'mini-game' during development. They were encouraged to think of each game as one that could be sold on its own, on its own merits. Therefore, each game has its own title screen.

-The title screens were designed to emulate NES box arts, by including things or scenes that don't happen in game or different art styles.

-Each game has its own unique stage select screens and menus.

-Gamer has 22 micro games included, about 10% of a previous WarioWare game.

-Games had their own director look after it toward the end of development, because Mori/Abe couldn't do it all by themselves.

-Arrow was Yoshikawa (Kirby Wii)

-Matsumiya (Band Brothers) did Kung Fu

-Tanabe (Paper Mario) and Tabata (Metroid Prime) both did Ashley and Island together.

-This was the first time at Nintendo that directors from different departments and teams have been involved in one game.

-Spent a lot of time polishing graphics, specifically on Island and Ski. Sakamoto thought Island looked fine, but when SDP designers saw, they told him it was not and it was the first time Sakamoto really understood what HD graphics meant for development.

-All three like 'Gamer' best. They also recommend Ski. Sakamoto likes it because of the young ladies you collect to trail behind you.

-Mori compares nearly being caught by the 'Mother' in Gamer to nearly having a car accident and slamming on the breaks.

-They chose not to use the WarioWare branding to avoiding confusing consumers into think this was just like previous games.

-They originally planned on calling it 'Game of the Wario' in Japanese, but the localization team at NoA suggested Game & Wario. Obviously, it's a reference to Game & Watch.

-In Japan, WarioWare Inc. is know as 'Made In Wario' but that sounded weird in English, so was changed.

-Game & Watch also influenced the mini-game names. They're short and clear, like the titles for the Game & Watch were.

-Gamer was originally going to be called 'Mother' but obviously, they couldn't do that.

-Miiverse Sketch is a separate mini-game. You select one word from a list of four and have 1 minute to draw it. Once the minute is up, it's automatically uploaded to the sub-community.

-Something special (a 'continuation') occurs if you collect all 240 gatcha items.

-Wario Ware is now 10 years old, as of March 21st. The team thought they'd beat the anniversary with the release, but it ended up coming after.

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Game & Wario was released today in Japan. Other territories unknown.

Reading that each game was treated as a full games rather than a mini games and also considering that Nintendoland is often unfairly dismissed by many as a minigame compilation makes me wonder whether we should have a term for games that are larger than a minigame but not quite a full game, like "short games". Kirby's Fun Pak could be seen as an even older example of this and no one ever calls its contents minigames (apart from the two actual minigames) and Spring Breeze can be breezed through much quicker than most Nintendoland games.

Reading that each game was treated as a full games rather than a mini games and also considering that Nintendoland is often unfairly dismissed by many as a minigame compilation makes me wonder whether we should have a term for games that are larger than a minigame but not quite a full game, like "short games". Kirby's Fun Pak could be seen as an even older example of this and no one ever calls its contents minigames (apart from the two actual minigames) and Spring Breeze can be breezed through much quicker than most Nintendoland games.

Reading that each game was treated as a full games rather than a mini games and also considering that Nintendoland is often unfairly dismissed by many as a minigame compilation makes me wonder whether we should have a term for games that are larger than a minigame but not quite a full game, like "short games". Kirby's Fun Pak could be seen as an even older example of this and no one ever calls its contents minigames (apart from the two actual minigames) and Spring Breeze can be breezed through much quicker than most Nintendoland games.

Something I missed from the interview before is that you get medals for each play, plus bonuses (kinda like Nintendo Land's coins), but instead of a frustratingly addictive mini-game where you can waste dozen of coins, each medal converts to one of the 240 Gatcha Prizes by making the chicken lay a capsule.

Game & Wario is a weird collection for the Wii U, and it won't appeal to everyone. Most of the games have at least some enjoyable ideas, which makes playing them worthwhile. Not every idea will keep you engaged for long and there are some which are a bust. The large number of collectibles requiring many coins will keep players going for completionists. If you are in the need for the next big thing, don't expect Game & Wario to deliver upon this, but if you are searching for an arcade hall experience and can you accept a few shortcomings, the game does offer fun. Sometimes, that’s enough.

This + Nintendo Land seem to be going off a sort of arcade-style gameplay format that they were heavy with in the NES era. I really like that in some respects, because it keeps the gameplay fun and fresh at all times - and its such a nice, stark difference to the cinematic games of today, as well as providing deeper gameplay than the vast majority of pay-to-win iOS apps that G&W might be compared to.

It would be totally weird and ironic if NOA cancelled it, considering that this Iwata Asks shows they were at least involved in the development of this title in some respects and even suggested the flipping name.